FAKE ONLINE GIFTS CAN STEAL FROM YOUR ELECTRONIC POCKET

By Elena Chobanian

Journalist, MA in International Relations

With the rise of computers and internet, we have been given the opportunity to organise our work faster and more sophisticated. However, there is also the downside of it. If we do not have skills and knowledge how to use and protect our personal information, we may have losses, and that would not in our interest either.

Journalists are not insured from such incidents as well. Recently, I was asked all of a sudden to complete a survey below in order to get a “Gift from Google, FREE Samsung Galaxy S9 Visitor Browser Opinion.” The first online message I got was the following:

“Dear user, congratulations!

We want to thank you for being a loyal Google user! Your IP address has been randomly selected to receive a FREE Samsung Galaxy S9.

From time to time we select a handful of Google users to give them the opportunity to receive valuable gifts from our partners and sponsors. This is our way of thanking you for choosing Google as your preferred search engine.

Today is your lucky day! You are one of the 10 randomly selected users who will receive this gift.

To receive your gift, you simply have to complete our short and anonymous survey. But hurry! There are only a few gifts available today!

How satisfied are you with Google? hxxp://search-engine.awarded.date”

Although, being aware of the fact that there are many spams, hacking methods of accessing personal data through the internet, and guessing that the fake “Chrome Opinion Survey” was not associated with Google at all, I started to go forward simply to find out more about the anonymous hacker/s. After having completed the online survey, a window has been opened which required to provide email address, password, then followed another window for completing the credit card’s data in order to ship the mentioned product at only $1. So little, you might say! But thus you give out all your private information to scammers (or hackers) who gain access easily to your computer, credit card, etc.

At the end of the survey are advertisements that the person/s who have created the survey get paid for, once the online user purchases/or does not purchase the product that is being advertised. In this case, to cancel a possible transaction or refund the stolen money, banks will require a certain amount of money, payment, otherwise you will be the only master of your faith.

After entering a false data, I immediately contacted the Grinplay where the online form for the personal information was posted, asking whether they were aware of that incident or not, or are they responsible for such cases, otherwise our journalistic team will investigate it. However, we have not got any answer from them so far.

This is how many users submit their sensitive data unknowingly, by opening the gates of their own electronic wallet to unknown and dangerous scammers. Hence, if you do not want to face such problems, it is wise to remember that there are no free gifts, and everything has its own price in this reality.